Thinking & Feeling

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Horace Walpole

Monday, 5 November 2012

Luleka Exchange Part 2

So after Quinn's 'Khayaletsha Bra' Sandile came to stay, the boys from our school were meant to have a reciprocal exchange with the Khayaletsha school 'Luleka' the next month. Sadly there was some political instability in the area triggered by the truck driver's strike and the Luleka teachers advised that the area was not completely safe at the time and so our boys never got to sleep over or spend time going to school in Khayaletsha. This is disappointing because I think it would have been a very valuable learning experience for our boys and by all accounts this is usually memorable and enriching for them. Anyway there was not much we could do about it. So what they did instead was break the exchange into 2 parts.

On the first day our boys went through to Khayaletsha and attended a children's home and had a township tour. Including a visit to Mzoli's where apparently they got to sample 'Smiley'. I knew it as 'skop' (short for skaap-kop) but Smiley seems to be the accepted vernac. Quinn says he ate a part of the cheek. Brave boy!

The second day was a Sunday visit to the school itself where parents could join in , and I did, where we set about gardening and painting and generally giving the school a spring-clean and face-lift. We worked hard painting and cleaning and chatted and played a little bit too. Afterwards the teachers and parents of Luleka served us a yummy lunch – chicken, rolls, worse and salads. The lady in charge (who I think is the head or deputy head of the school) is such a warm and loving woman. I loved her to bits!

Griff showing off one of the poles we painted. There were well over 100 we had to paint in the end. Those buggers were everywhere! There's no before pic, but they looked pretty grotty and we really helped to spruce them up. G was a star and worked like a champ.

Quinn spent most of his day with another group, painting and cleaning inside. He also did a spot of gardening and found this cute carrot.

All in all it was a fulfilling and worthwhile experience. It was actually quite fun. I like exposing my boys to this kind of thing so they can see how other people live and to realize that they are pretty privileged… as well as to see how strong a community these people have which is something we are a bit lacking!